Chapter 0005

“Who the hell are you!?” I shout, horrified, stumbling back.

“I’m – I’m the wolf!” the boy sputters, gesturing at his tall, lanky form which is indeed made up of the same shining blue and white light as the wolf.

“You’re a guy!?” I gasp, appalled.

“I…yeah?” he responds, giving an awkward shrug. “I’m…sorry?”

I glance down at my loosened dress and my temper slips its lead. “You asshole!” I snap, striding forward and swatting a hand at him, enraged. “Why didn’t you tell me you’re really a boy before I started to get undressed!? God, you creep –“

He gasps as my hand passes through his incorporeal body, his eyes flaring wide.

“Hey!” he snaps, glaring at me. “I did tell you! And you aren’t even undressed, you just started –“

“You could have told me earlier!” I shout, smacking again even though it doesn’t do anything. “You could have announced it when you first showed up! Ew, I petted you! You –“

“Hey!” he snarls, taking a step towards me and glaring down into my face, his own temper flaring. “I’m new to all of this too! If I’d known I could shift into my human form, obviously I would have done it sooner!”

Something about this makes me pause. “You – you didn’t know?”

“No,” he snaps, standing straight and sketching an ironic bow my way. “Newly dead, your highness – first five minutes as a ghost. So, please forgive me if I also don’t know what the hell is going on!”

“You’re…dead? You’re a ghost?” I ask, my voice a whisper, my eyes moving up and down his body.

He’s tall – almost as tall as my dad and my brothers, but much slimmer than them. And not a boy, I realize, though his features are boyish. No, he’s older than me, somewhere in his twenties. Still, he’s handsome, with dark hair that falls into his face and a long, straight nose. As I look at him, tilting my head to the side, I can’t help but think that it’s rather a shame that he’s dead.

And then my heart sinks as I realize that he had the same fate as Blythe - that they’re both just two young men dead way before their time. Grief sinks in me and I sigh, looking up into the boy’s face, all the anger and vigor going out of me at once.

“Well, who the hell are you?” I grumble, working hard to rekindle my anger so I don’t cry anymore.

“I’m Anton,” he says, his smile softening as he takes in the emotions passing over my face, the grief I’m feeling for him, the confusion for myself. Anton presses a hand to his chest and dips his head. “At your service, highness.”

I sigh, studying him, wishing quite vehemently that neither of us was here in this horrible place. “I’m sorry that you died, Anton.” I say the words very quietly, hoping he takes them as earnestly as I mean them.

Slowly, Anton lifts his eyes to mine. “It was for a good cause, highness,” he says. “I wouldn’t take back the act that made me lose my life.”

I turn my head at him, curious, but when he drops his eyes and looks away, grief sweeping over his features, I let him have his space. Perhaps, later, when it’s not so fresh, he’ll tell me about it.

“How do you know who I am?” I ask.

“What?” He turns his face back to me, confused.

“You called me Juniper,” I say, straightening my shoulders. “How do you know my name? Did my grandmother tell you?”

The ghost boy just stares at me for a long moment. Too long.

I narrow my eyes at him further, my lips pressing tight together, my anger starting to coil again. I mean, is he another trick? Was he not sent by my grandmother, but by someone else eager to see me fail?

“Juniper,” the ghost boy says, his face bursting into a grin. “I mean, to begin, you’re a princess – you’re basically a celebrity. How could I not know who you are?”

I go still for a second but then my shoulders slump in embarrassment. Because of course he’s right. Everyone in Moon Valley – maybe our entire world – knows who I am. A blush flushes across my cheeks and his smile widens.

“But also…yeah,” he shrugs. “Your Grandmother told me she was sending me to you.”

“Really?” I ask, stepping closer, staring up at him. “What happened?”

“Um,” he glances down at me with a little grimace. “Can you like…not be as undressed as you are while we have this conversation?”

I gasp, glancing down at myself, bursting into another blush as I realize that I am kind of just clutching a piece of fabric to my chest. “Oh, go away,” I snarl, shoving at his shoulder and then stumbling a little as – of course – my hand passes right through him.

Anton laughs at me again goodheartedly, stepping away as I straighten up, grinning when he sees my blush deepen. “Listen, I’d love to let you have your privacy, but I don’t think I can go away.”

“What?” I ask, clutching the dress a little tighter.

“Um, I’m like…tied to you, Juniper,” he says with a shrug. “Even when you went a quarter of the way across the room, I felt like…a tug, pulling me with you\. And when you start to go further, it gets…scary. Like if I don’t follow you I’m going to disappear.”

I just gape at him, horrified at the idea that he could just disappear but also…kind of appalled that I apparently can’t be alone anymore.

“How long is the…tether?” I ask, searching for a better word.

“Like a few feet?” he says, grimacing. “I mean, we can experiment with it but,” he shrugs. “I’d prefer not to puff away to dust. I’ve already died once recently. Not trying to…repeat the experience.”

My heart sinks at the joke. Anton tries hard for a smile, but that falls away too.

“Okay,” I say with a sigh, looking longingly at the bath as the taps stop automatically, very much wanting to climb into it.

“Look, I’ll turn around,” he says. “I’ll even like…hum? If you want? So I can’t hear anything?”

I whip my head back to him with a frown. “Why would it matter if you heard something?”

“I don’t know,” he says, his eyes going wide as he spreads his hands out in front of him, “I don’t know what girls do in baths –“

“Oh my god, Anton,” I cry, scowling at him as I storm to the side of the tub.

“You are making this way dirtier than it needs to be, Juniper!” he shouts after me. “I didn’t mean anything like that – I was just being nice, trying to give you privacy –“

“Around, Anton!” I snap, turning to glare at him and twirling my finger in a circle, indicating that he should do the same. “Pets must be obedient, after all. And silent.”

Anton stares at me for a long moment, clearly appalled at being referred to as my pet.

But I just grin at him, a little wicked, and he blinks once before he huffs a low laugh, his face breaking into a smile. “Yes, your highness,” he says, dipping into a mocking little bow with his hands spread wide at his sides.